“Text messaging”, or Short Message Service (SMS), is the method by which cellular telephone and computer users send brief messages, usually consisting of short text strings and, in some cases sounds, graphics or photos. SMS has become ingrained as a part of life for many. Some have come to “need” SMS to manage their personal and business lives.
However, SMS alone has a number of shortcomings. SMS depends on a network layer protocol known as SMPP, or Simple Message Peer-to-Peer protocol. SMPP is stateless, meaning that each message sent is a complete transaction in itself. In its native form, the protocol has no awareness or persistence regarding extended transactions. Contrast this with a voice call, for example, which is stateful, meaning that as long as both phones are off the hook, there is a persistent connection that can be used by either party, and has internal continuity. Another common complaint about SMS is its inefficient delivery structure. When the SMS message center is overloaded, messages take longer to reach their destination. This creates an inherent inefficiency in the conversation, which can become more than a simple inconvenience in an emergency or even a simple business transaction. Moreover, SMS fails to provide a necessary fluidity in the transmission of information afforded by other media, such as voice calls. When issues in an SMS transaction arise, it is frequently necessary to terminate the communications event and attempt to initiate contact between the parties over a second medium. However, due to the stateless nature of SMS, the transition between media and communications events is cumbersome and can produce unwanted delays, as well as repetitive gathering or exchange of data between communicating parties.
Accordingly, what is needed is a new system and method, capable of binding SMS, voice and other media transactions into a continuous, stateful messaging process that maintains awareness of the communications event over time delays and media transitions.